Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29130

Hints and tips by Kath

Hello everyone. This is definitely a Ray T crossword – I didn’t think it was quite as straightforward as the one two weeks ago but it’s far from being his most difficult.

In the hints the definitions are underlined and the answers are hidden under the ANSWER buttons so only do that if you need to see one.

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on today.

Across

1a Dark heart of husband is malicious (6) DISMAL — The first lurker or hidden answer – it’s hiding in the middle of the last three words of the clue – not a good start for me as I always miss these and today was no exception. My sister, who is staying with us, has just looked over my shoulder and she says this is a rotten illustration for the answer and that if she was looking at it she’d think POND!

4a Fish sauce over leafy vegetable (8) PILCHARD — A reversal (over) of a short word meaning sauce or cheek is followed by a green leafy vegetable that’s a bit like spinach

9a Posts affected vacant texts? (6) TWEETS — A synonym for affected or dainty is followed by the first and last letters (vacant or with nothing in the middle) of T[ext]S

10a Starter of spicy Indian dishes causes runs (8) SCURRIES — The first letter (starter) of S[picy] is followed by a general term for Indian food

12a Cheese and crackers after meal half rejected (8) EMMENTAL — The first two letters (half) of ME[al] is reversed (rejected) and is followed by another way of saying crackers or a bit loopy

13a Some psychopath on Shutter Island (6) HONSHU — The second lurker of the day which is indicated by the first word of the clue – I missed this one too

15a Air of innocence following the man’s cruelty (13) HEARTLESSNESS — A pronoun that means ‘the man’ is followed by an air of innocence or lack of sophistication

18a Sadly date Republican without a chance (13) UNPREDICTABLE — An anagram (sadly) of DATE REPUBLICAN minus one of the ‘A’ (without A) My anagram ‘fodder’ and my ability to count the number of letters went a bit wrong this morning! Thanks, Gazza, for pointing it out.

22a Opening wine going with nearly everything (6) PORTAL — A fortified wine is followed by most of (nearly) a little word that means everything or total

24a Clip contains Queen period legacy (8) HERITAGE — This kind of clip is the kind that someone might get round the ear if they’d been very naughty (rather than a verb to shorten) and it contains the two letters that are the regnal cipher of our Queen – follow all that with a period or time

26a Female finally in extremely bloody parable (8) ALLEGORY — The last letter (finally) of [femal]E goes in between (in) a synonym for extremely or fully and a word that means bloody or bleeding

27a Creature’s back showing bony plates (6) LAMINA — A reversal (back) of a creature or a beast

28a Tweeted about husband getting excited (8) THRILLED — Tweeted here is nothing to do with what President Trump does inappropriately – it’s the sound that a bird makes and it contains (about) the abbreviation for H[usband]

29a A fellow lives for handsome young man (6) ADONIS — The ‘A’ from the clue, a fellow or a university lecturer and, finally, a synonym for lives or exists

Down

1d Customs of The French Connection heading south (6) DUTIES — The little short word that means ‘of the’ in French is followed by another word for a connection or a link and then the abbreviation for S[outh]

2d Crew in shackles disheartened in vessel (9) STEAMSHIP — A crew or a side is contained in (in) the first and last letters (disheartened) of S[hackle]S – then that lot is finished off with a little word that means ‘in’ or stylish

3d A queen mounted supporting insect appendage (7) ANTENNA — A reversal (mounted) of the first name of an 18thC Queen goes after (supporting) a small insect

5d Craving hag missing wife to begin (4) ITCH — A five letter hag or an ugly old crone without her first letter (which is the abbreviation for W[ife]

6d Loads motor then sets off (7) CARGOES — A common motor or vehicle is followed by a verb that means to set off or leave

7d Improper young lady with ace top (5) AMISS — A young lady or unmarried woman is preceded by (top) the abbreviation for A[ce]

8d Detective’s men told to provide cover (8) DISGUISE — One of the many abbreviations for a detective, with his (or her) ‘S is followed by a homophone (told) of men or chaps

11d Head likely taken by original murderer (7) CAPTAIN — The name of the eldest son of Adam and Eve who bumped off his brother contains (taken by) a little word meaning likely or suitable

14d Skin of sweetheart covered in froth (7) LEATHER — Some froth or foam from soap contains the middle letter (heart) of swEet

17d Topple possibly seeing drink works (8) SUPPLANT — A little short synonym of a verb to drink is followed by some works or factories

19d Support section of church overturning gospel (7) EVANGEL — A support or a prop and the main part of a church are both reversed (overturning)

20d Criminal outfit takes on another outfit (7) BRIGAND — Two ‘outfits’ here – one inside the other (takes on) – the outside one is a musical outfit or group and the one that goes inside is a shorter word that means equipment or kit

21d Beams outside empty electoral broadcasts (6) RELAYS — Some beams or shafts of light contain (outside) the first and last letters (empty) of E[lectora]L

23d Regent usually leading England’s reign primarily? (5) RULER – The first letters (primarily) of the rest of the words of the clue

25d Native American belief system is endless (4) CREE — A system of belief or principles without its last letter (endless)

Enjoyable and about par for a Ray T, I thought. Thanks to him and Kath for her usual entertaining blog. I counted only two anagrams – I wonder if he’s moving towards the Beam standard of none at all?
The anagram fodder in 18a is overlong – “without A” needs to be taken into account with the definition being just the last word of the clue.

I think I managed the Toughie in slightly shorter time today. 9a was last in because I had carelessly put in ‘duanes’ for 1d. I think this might have been a deliberate Ray T trap for the unwary. Anyone else fall into it? I thought 1a was a clever lurker. 12a and 9d joint favourites. Maybe not one of Ray’s best, but still enjoyable.

Just nicely taxing with a bit of GK required. NW was last corner to fall but now, as is often the case, I can’t understand why. 9a obviously on setter’s mind when clueing 28a. Once criminal equalling anagram in 20d was discounted it had to be the four letter outfit around the other. 12a just beat 26a for Fav pole position. Thank you RayT and Kath.

I thought this was tougher than the last Beam I attempted and easily the most difficult puzzle of the week. A few points…I was surprised to see the definition of 9a used (albeit with a different meaning) in the wordplay of 26a. In 18a I don’t think the definition and the answer are true synonyms and the pronoun for “the man’s” is surely “his” not “he” in 15a though I’d entered the correct answer anyway.
On the positive side I liked both 1a and 1d, the amusing 12a, and the clever 29a but overall I’ve enjoyed Mr T more than I did today.
Thanks to the aforementioned Ray T and to Kath for her usual warm blog

Stephen, you need to read 15a as “the man is”, where “is” provides the link between wordplay and definition. I too had some qualms about 18a but convinced myself that in a sentence like “it was a chance event” you can replace “chance” with the answer (if you change “a” to “an”, of course! )

Thank you for your feedback RD. Re 15 across I thought the same thing (that it could be taken as “he is”) but originally thought that it would ruin the surface read but I see it now, thank you.
Re 18a….I hadn’t thought of using chance like that, as an adjective….suppose it (just about) works😉

Plenty of trademarks here to identify today’s setter – most enjoyable solve being one of them.
Long list of potentials for the podium but I’ve whittled it down to 4,10 & 28a plus 8d. Thought 10a would be an excellent synonym for ‘Delhi belly’!

Devotions to Mr T and many thanks to Kath for the review – I thought the illustration for 1a was fine as it could well depict the Slough of Despond which was certainly 1a!

3.5*/4*. I enjoyed this a lot. The NW corner took me as long as the other three quarters put together taking me overall above my 3* time.
I’m not sure why “to begin” is needed in 5d – padding is most definitely not RayT’s style.
My podium today comprises 4a, 10a & 8d.
Many thanks to RayT and to Kath.

Yes, I agree Wanda, but my point is if the clue had simply been “craving hag missing wife” that would provide sufficient information to arrive at the answer without needing to specify that the W to be removed is at the beginning of the source word.

Quite tricky in places I thought. Missed the lurker in 1a, somehow you don’t expect them so early on. Thought 11d was clever. Last in 27a, was thinking of more exotic creatures. Thanks to Kath for great hints and Ray T for absorbing puzzle.

A puzzle of 2 halves for me. The L hand side was fairly straightforward but the R was def tricky. 19d was a new word for me. 8d was a very sneaky homophone indicator. Needed the hints to explain 4a, 14d and 11d, all obvious when you see the reasoning!
All in all an enjoyable crossword. However, Mrs B still runs off when she sees it is a Ray T, not her cup of tea despite my protestations that one needs to persevere. I think Ray T puzzles are a bit like Marmite. Personally I liken them to olives, nasty at first but worth making the effort in the long run.
Thx to all
***/***

Did this in separate corners starting with NE and finishing with NW. Not a lot of overlap probably because I took an age with the two long across clues. Last one in which I did not parse but parsed everything else. Some unusual words but doable from the wordplay. Favourite 11d with runners up 12a and 14d with 4a and 3 and 20d highly commended. Definitely ***/*** for difficulty and enjoyment. Thanks Ray T – no mysteries as left for us by two recent setters and thanks Kath for the parsing of 9a.

Recovering from a very wet day at Lord’s in every sense of the word, so not on top form today.
An enjoyable and steady solve. Thanks to Ray T and Kath.
One query that our learned bloggers may be able to help me with. I have been advised that the likes of swEetheart are frowned upon by Ximinean purists. I have been admonished in the past for using Gateshead as G . Any thoughts, please?

Hi Shabbo,
One of our more experienced contributors may be better able to advise but that construction has been a trademark of Ray T’s for as long as I can remember. Perhaps it’s just one of those ‘you have to know the rules before you’re allowed to break them’ things?!!

Having now read the above comments properly, I think Shabbo must have been at Lord’s yesterday in the pouring rain. At least Silvanus is getting to see some cricket today but that’s a bit of a mixed blessing given England’s woeful performance so far.

Commiserations on choosing yesterday to go, I do sympathise. I was very fortunate to have an uninterrupted day, and was pleased to see Bairstow finally get some runs. You may well be correct about England’s final total.

I tried to explain to a very nice elderly lady sitting next to me today some of the nuances of cryptic crosswords, and she made a mental note to remember Rufus’s classic “Bar of soap” clue (THE ROVERS RETURN). I’m not sure that she fully understood my explanations however, as, when she said “couldn’t it also be THE QUEEN VIC?”, and I replied by saying “no, the enumeration wouldn’t be correct”, she then looked at me extremely blankly!

Hi Shabbo – you are quite right in your thinking re purists. Strictly speaking the ‘Gateshead’ for G would be wrong because it’s actually Gate’s head

Similarly Job Centre for O should be Job’s Centre, but we see it all the time and it really depends on the Editor as I understand it. Indeed for DE[—]ED is another example, freeloaders for ordeals etc are best avoided even if they are fun; though it doesn’t bother me, personally

It depends on the editor. The Telegraph editor is obviously happy with swEetheart because Ray T uses it in most of his puzzles. Guardian setters can get away with quite a lot – Paul today had “… a shade insular, briefly?” to code TAN in SULA[r] (i.e. sultana).

Ray T defeated me yet again. Thank you for the hints Kath, good job and very much needed today. Actually I kind of agree with your sister, I don’t think the picture at 1a looks like the answer. In fact, with the lightening sky in the background it looks quite hopeful. But perhaps the sky is darkening…

Steady solve today finished at work but without time to comment. 11d fave for me. 19d usually with an is* ending but had to be. Thanks to Kath for the hints which were needed. And a Hippo Burpday to those who have or have just had same.

I feel that I have turned the corner with Ray T 😃 managed to complete unassisted ***/*** Favourites are 27a & 6d 🤗 Thanks to Kath for the blog and to Ray T for supplying solvable puzzles on a Thursday 😉

I kind of fumbled my way through this crossword. I eventually completed but I did have to revisit several clues along the way. I still enjoyed the solve and 8d was my top clue.
Thanks to Ray T, and to Kath for her entertaining review.

I started this this morning but only managed most of the south before having to go out. When I got back I decided I didn’t want to get bogged down again, so went straight to the hints. I still find RayT’s wavelength impenetrable, I don’t imagine I’ll get anything like proficient.
Thanks anyway RayT, I enjoy reading the comments, and thanks to Kath for her hints and pics.

Good evening, Mr T. Haven’t seen The Jerk but the dog’s name wasn’t hard to guess and then look up for confirmation. Typical of you to make the answer crystal clear without risking any condemnation – I reckon you deserve that cigar!

Our last one in was 14d and it took quite a long time to come up with the right answer. Another good fun solve for us.
On the word count this week, RayT has excelled himself. No clue contains more than 7 words and there are only four clues that have this many.
Thanks RayT and Kath.

To Miffypops that is. Catherine and I completed this on the ferry from Rosslare to Fishguard and the last two two, 17d and 28a, over a glass of wine at the other end, which gave a chance to deconstruct 11d. All the best to MP. Thanks to RaY T and to Kath.

Fairly typical for me: I got some answers by myself, and needed hints (thanks, Kath) for others.

I have fond memories of 27a, with the same reversal, from one of the very first cryptic crosswords I managed to complete, in the Radio Times a few years ago. That crossword’s solution was in the RT5 weeks later — where, curiously, the same reversal cropped up again in that issue’s crossword (and both times down the 1st column)!

Maybe one day I’ll encounter the word outside of crosswords, but for now my brain just thinks of it as that word you get by putting creatures backwards.

An excellent puzzle from Ray T, which I obtained on Friday morning and solved on Friday evening. Great clues, a good challenge and very enjoyable. There were some good, quite uncommon, definitions to make one think a little deeper. Too many really good clues to pick a favourite. 3.5* / 4.5*

I seldom buy a paper (but when I do, it’s always the Telegraph, for the cryptic, obviously!), so I won’t be a regular poster.
However I do like Big Dave’s, because (unlike some blogs) it doesn’t give the answer straight away, but explains the logical breakdown (parsing?) of the clue.